In less than two weeks the Federal Communications Commission will vote whether to reclassify broadband and mobile service providers as common carriers under Title II of the Telecommunications Act, but Republican lawmakers and their allies staunchly opposed to net neutrality (or as they are fond of calling it "Internet regulations") are pulling out all the stops to slow things down.

This week Republican lawmakers put forth a bill that enforces net neutrality rules but takes away power from the Federal Communications Commission when it comes to enforcing them. The new bill put forth by US Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) also forbids the FCC from reclassifying broadband companies as "common carriers" under Title II of the Telecommunications Act.

The bill enforces net neutrality rules such as banning on blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization, but leaves an exception for undefined "specialized services." Can you say "loophole?"

The White House has a simple message for lawmakers looking to strip power away from the FCC in regulating broadband and mobile service providers under upcoming net neutrality rules: let the FCC do its job.

Politico is reporting that Republicans - who will have control of both houses of Congress in January - have plans to stop whatever new net neutrality rules the Federal Communications Commission might implement in the early part of the year.

This is part one of a series analyzing the political attitudes of GamerGate, based on an online survey conducted between the 18th and the 22nd of December. The full data tables can be found HERE, and an overview of the results can be found HERE.

"The biggest regulatory threat to the Internet is 'net neutrality.'" That's what Texas Senator Ted Cruz said today on Facebook. The Libertarian Republican Senator (and a strong voice for the Team Party in the Senate) compared net neutrality rules to Obama Care in a brief statement today.

Senator Tom Coburn's 2014 Wastebook report is out, detailing all the tax payer-funded programs that the Republican Senator from Oklahoma thinks are wasteful or pork barrel spending. While he offers plenty of red meat for fiscally conservative types, we are really only interested in what game related items made the cut this year.

The ad describes Raimondo's support for paying back the bonds related to the 38 Studios deal as the taxpayers bailing out "Wall Street investors" who "took a risk and went bust." The ad also claims that Raimondo is "looking out for Wall Street, not Main Street."

Tea Party-endorsed candidate Zach Dasher is trying his best to unseat Rep. Vance McAllister (R-La.), but an old podcast about the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting has come back to haunt him. Dasher, who is the nephew of Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson, hosted a podcast called "Why Did This Happen" three days after the school shooting in Newtown, Conn. (which occurred on December 14, 2012), claiming that the shooter Adam Lanza was influenced by atheism, postmodernism, and video games.

A new video from a conservative think tank called American Enterprise Institute featuring scholar Christina Hoff Sommers says that issues related to sexism and misogyny have been brought up mostly by pro-feminist tech writers and those sympathetic to them. Sommers has written several books critical of the current feminism movement including Who Stole Feminism? How Women Have Betrayed Women and The War Against Boys: How Misguided Feminism Is Harming Our Young Men.

Republican advocacy group American Commitment announced that it has gathered 772,000 American signatures on a petition asking the Federal Communications Commission to avoid "regulating the Internet" ala net neutrality.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee has released a 2014 midterm election-themed game called Mission Majority. The game stars an elephant named Giopi, but before you can control him you'll have to give up your email, Google Plus or Facebook information to receive some political mailings about various Senate races around the country. After willingly adding yourself to the NRSC e-mail list, the game charges you with helping the GOP... get a majority in the Senate.

2008 Republican presidential candidate and current governor of Texas Rick Perry used some interesting language in a speech at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa on Saturday. Perry seems to be throwing out hints about a possible run at the presidency in 2016. In his speech Perry said that he is ready to be sent "somewhere."

"Here am I. Send me," Perry said in a speech at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames on Saturday, quoting from the book of Isaiah. "That is your challenge. That is our challenge."

The Rhode Island Republican Party will host a presentation this evening to inform the general public about the failure of 38 Studios and its potential long-term impact on state finances. The event will be held at the GOP headquarters in Warwick, Rhode Island.

State Representative Michael Chippendale, a member of two congressional oversight committees looking into the 38 Studios deal, will give a slideshow presentation on the issue. That will be followed by an audience Q&A session.

Republicans in California have been relatively quiet about a trio of Democratic state legislators who have been in the news this year for various unethical and illegal behavior - but, according to Fresno Bee, that may be about to change.

Republican leadership in the state have begun throwing around the names of certain lawmakers who have either been charged with a crime or convicted.

An interesting story from the New York Times points out that the level of lobbying has increased dramatically since FCC Chairman vowed to "write new rules to secure an open Internet." According to NYT, in the nine weeks since the FCC lost its case against Verizon in the federal courts, at least 69 companies, interest groups and trade associations have met with FCC commissioners and officials about rule changes related to net neutrality and those

Rhode Island gubernatorial candidate Ken Block (R) is as pleased as punch that newly-appointed House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello has appointed two long-time critics of the 38 Studios loan to leadership positions in the House Oversight Committee.

"They both have records of standing up to the political establishment and fighting against the back room corruption of the 38 Studios deal," Block said of Reps. Karen MacBeth, the new chairwoman, and Spencer Dickinson, the new vice-chairman.

California Senate Republican Leader Bob Huff issued a statement on Friday applauding the Senate's effort to suspend Senators Ron Calderon, Rod Wright and Leland Yee. Senator Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar) said in his statement that the Senate took "decisive action" in suspending the three senators who are currently embroiled in unrelated corruption cases. All three are Democrats.

Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) has been talking about a class action lawsuit against the NSA and the Obama administration over the spy agency's collection of phone metadata and other collection activities.

The lawsuit was filed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, with Rand Paul and conservative group Freedom Works named as lead plaintiffs. The lawsuit is aimed at President Barack Obama, Director of National Security James Clapper, Director of the NSA Keith Alexander, and Director of the FBI James Comey Jr.

Rep. Peter King (R-New York) this week laid into the Republican National Committee (RNC) for its resolution stating that the National Security Agency's spying was unconstitutional, that various surveillance programs should be halted immediately, and that a "full public accounting" of those activities should take place. Rep. King described the resolution as a “hysterical” measure that could be a “death warrant” for the GOP. The RNC announced the resolution on Friday.

The Republican National Committee passed a resolution today renouncing what it is calling "unconstitutional National Security Agency surveillance programs." This is quite a shift in position for the party which defended the ramping up of these programs after the 911 attacks. The resolution was affirmed by a voice vote at the GOP’s winter meeting.

The RNC called upon Republican lawmakers "to immediately take action to halt current unconstitutional surveillance programs and provide a full public accounting of the NSA’s data collection programs."

In an interview with Fox News on Friday, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul (R) said that National Intelligence chief James Clapper and NSA leaker Edward Snowden should "share a jail cell," intimating that Clapper is as much a criminal as the former NSA contractor turned whistleblower (or traitor depending on what school of opinion you subscribe to). Clapper testified before Congress denying that the NSA was not engaging in supposed dragnet surveillance of American citizens.

According to The Hill, one of the demands that Republican lawmakers in the House of Representatives have put forth calls for a repeal of the FCC's rules on net neutrality.

According to the publication, a memo was circulated late last week amongst Republican lawmakers detailing some of the demands that they have put forth as a condition of passing a budget and raising the debt ceiling.

A new attack ad from the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) pays homage to the classic Nintendo light gun game Duck Hunt while assailing Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana. The ad features the famous backdrop of the Duck Hunt game and displays ducks marked with various issues - such as Obamacare, energy, taxes, and 12,000 jobs for the Gulf Coast - that Sen. Landrieu "misses" on. At the end of the 41-second ad, a familiar dog laughs at all of the antics.

The leader of Rhode Island's Republican Party is calling for a special investigation into the legislature's involvement in the state's failed investment in former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling's video game company 38 Studios. After the studio went bankrupt the state was left holding the bag to the tune of $100 million.

Lamar Alexander, the Republican Senator from Tennessee that made headlines earlier this year for saying that "video games are a bigger problem than guns because video games affect people," may have a hard time getting nominated as the Republican candidate for the 2014 race if Glenn Jacobs decides to jump in.

Here's something you may not know: Glenn Jacobs, the man who plays the "Big Red Monster" Kane character on World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and a co-holder of the WWE World Tag Team Championships, is also the co-founder of the conservative group, The Tennessee Liberty Alliance.

Shout box

You're not permitted to post shouts.

ZippyDSMlee: .....win8 hates any left over hidden install partitions from other version of windows....only waste 5 hours finding that out...its ahrder than you think keeping up with 4 or 5 HDDS......03/03/2015 - 4:44am

Matthew Wilson: I am going to pax east, any games you guys want me to check out?03/02/2015 - 11:23pm

ZippyDSMlee: No one remembers the days of Cinemagic and Cynergy eh? :P, meh even MGS is getting to film like....03/02/2015 - 8:44pm

MechaTama31: I was about to get all defensive about liking Metal Gear Solid, but then I saw that he was talking about "cinematic" as a euphemism for "crappy framerate".03/02/2015 - 8:29pm

prh99: Just replace cinematic with the appropriate synonym for poo and you'll have gist of any press release.03/02/2015 - 5:34pm

Monte: Though from a business side, i would agree with the article. While it would be smarter for developers to slow down, you can't expect EA, Activision or ubisoft to do something like that. Nintnedo's gotta get the third party back.02/28/2015 - 4:36pm

Monte: Though it does also help that nintendo's more colorful style is a lot less reliant on graphics than more realistic games. Wind Waker is over 10 years old and still looks good for its age.02/28/2015 - 4:33pm

Monte: With the Wii, nintnedo had the right idea. Hold back on shiny graphics and focus on the gameplay experience. Unfortunatly everyone else keeps pushing for newer graphics and it matters less and less each generation. I can barely notice the difference02/28/2015 - 4:29pm

Monte: ON third party developers; i kinda think they should slow down to nintendo's pace. They bemoan the rising costs of AAA gaming, but then constantly push for the best graphics which is makes up a lot of those costs. Be easier to afford if they held back02/28/2015 - 4:27pm

Matthew Wilson: http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2015/02/28/the-world-is-nintendos-if-only-theyd-take-it/ I think this is a interesting op-ed, but yeah it kind of is stating the obvious.02/28/2015 - 2:52pm